مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

Research on career adaptability, a core construct in the field of vocational psychology and career construction theory (S. D. Brown & Lent, 2016; Savickas, 1997, 2013; Super & Knasel, 1981), has rapidly increased since the publication of a reliable and well-validated scale to measure the construct (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012). The Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) assesses career adaptability as a higher-order construct that consists of four dimensions: concern (i.e., preparing for future career tasks), control (i.e., taking responsibility for career development), curiosity (i.e., exploring possible future selves and career opportunities), and confidence (i.e., believing in one’s ability to solve problems and to succeed) (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012). The CAAS has so far been translated into more than a dozen languages, including Chinese (Hou, Leung, Li, Li, & Xu, 2012), Dutch (van Vianen, Klehe, Koen, & Dries, 2012), French (Johnston et al., 2013), Italian (Soresi, Nota, & Ferrari, 2012), and Portuguese (Duarte et al., 2012).

Conducting research on career adaptability in different countries is important to enhance crosscultural generalizability of findings, and to uncover cultural differences with regard to the nomological net of career adaptability (Duarte & Rossier, 2008).

The goal of this article was twofold. First, we aimed to assess the psychometric properties of a Persian translation of the CAAS (the CAAS–Iran Form). We expected that the overall scale and its sub-scales measure career adaptability and its four dimensions reliably and that the subscales are statistically distinct yet positively related and, in combination, form a higher-order career adaptability factor. Second, we aimed to examine the criterion-related validity of the CAAS–Iran Form with regard to career satisfaction, business opportunity identification, and entrepreneurial intentions. Career satisfaction is an important indicator of subjective career success that captures workers’ cognitive and affective evaluations of their career-related achievements (Ng & Feldman, 2014; Seibert & Kraimer, 2001). The other two outcomes are central constructs in the field of entrepreneurship (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000). Opportunity identification refers to a behavioral process in which people recognize, develop, and evaluate opportunities for creating a new and potentially profitable business (Ardichvili, Cardozo, & Ray, 2003; Gaglio & Katz, 2001). Entrepreneurial intentions involve the extent to which people aim or expect to engage in business start-up activities to pursue a career as self-employed in the future (Bird & Jelinek, 1988; Douglas & Shepherd, 2002; Krueger, Reilly, & Carsrud, 2000).